About me

Jonathan Rawle was born in central England in 1979. He was educated at King Charles I School, Kidderminster, and went on to complete both his first degree and PhD in physics at the University of Leicester. He currently lives in Didcot, Oxfordshire, and works at a nearby research establishment where he assists leading researchers from around the world who come to conduct experiments in a wide range of fields using synchrotron light.

Jonathan has been blogging since 2006, and is a regular contributor of comments to other sites and discussion forums. His online exploits have lead to him being quoted in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, and seen him rubbing shoulders with peers of the realm.

As a long-time fan of classical music, Jonathan has been following the Philharmonia Orchestra since his Leicester days, and is a regular attendee at concerts by various orchestras and ensembles at London venues such as the Royal Festival Hall, Barbican and at the BBC Proms. He is a particular fan of modern orchestral music, where “modern” can mean anything from the second half of the 19th century onwards!

He is what could be described as a serious amateur photographer, although he has never had any special training, and tends just to take photographs of wherever his travels take him. He also combines his interest in photography with an appreciation of architecture, which is why many of the images in the gallery show buildings. He formerly took photographs for a leading real estate and construction website.

Jonathan has an interest in foreign cultures, acquired primarily through meeting people from, rather than visits to, foreign countries – after all, it’s the people who make a culture – with a particular interest in east Asia.

He does not drink alcohol and campaigns for people who choose not to drink to be catered for in the same way as vegetarians at events, and for alcohol to be a little less central to the general concept of a good time so that whether or not people consume it becomes irrelevant.

Finally, Jonathan isn’t religious, but tries to accommodate everyone’s beliefs whether religious or not. While he does oppose interference by religion in everyday life, and is uncomfortable with evangelism, he prefers a less aggressive approach than many of the organised secular groups.

About jonathan.rawle.org

Jonathan Rawle’s Website has been online since 1998, and moved to its current URL in 2001. The site gained a blog in 2006, but some of the other content on the site dates back almost right to the start. More than a decade on, dozens of people a day visit the site to find a map of British counties or advice on how to use the apostrophe. More recently, this has been joined by tips on how to save money on train tickets, and an article on UK postcodes. Why not subscribe to the RSS or Twitter feeds to ensure you don’t miss out on future updates?

Twitter @rawlejon

Sad to head of the loss of Jóhann Jóhannsson today. I first came across him in 2006 when he released "IBM 1401, A User's Manual" featuring a computer's sounds recorded by his father in 1971. bit.ly/2Em3Y36~1 month agoReplyRetweetFavourite